Courchevel-Méribel and Planica elected hosts of newly extended FIS marketing and media contract with Infront

Courchevel-Méribel and Planica elected hosts of newly extended FIS marketing and media contract with Infront

18 May 2018

On to France and Slovenia: Courchevel-Méribel and Planica named hosts of FIS Alpine and Nordic World Ski Championships respectively as FIS continues to rely on Infront

Zug, Switzerland - Shortly after FIS confirmed Infront as its preferred partner for the marketing of all media and commercial rights to its key events, it announced the long awaited hosts for 2023. At yesterday's FIS Congress, France’s Courchevel-Méribel was elected as host for the 2023 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, while Slovenia’s Planica will stage the 2023 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Once again, Infront will be on hand to ensure strong media and marketing for the events.

In a week of important decisions at FIS and following an intensive two-month tender process, Infront was announced on Monday to have overcome bids from IMG/Tridem and EBU/Lagardère for the marketing of all media and commercial rights to both the 2023 and 2025 FIS Alpine and Nordic World Ski Championships.

The FIS Congress elected Infront’s longstanding partners Courchevel-Méribel and Planica as hosts for the respective World Championships in 2023. Infront congratulates the bid winners and is looking forward to begin work alongside these two winter sport events.

Selected hosts longstanding Infront partners

French National Ski Federation and Courchevel, since its reintroduction in 2010 into the Alpine Ski World Cup circuit, have produced together with Infront, a great number of skiing highlights. With the experience as the official media rights distributor and producer, the excitement to be able to collaborate with the two former Olympic ski resorts towards another exciting FIS Alpine World Ski Championship is high.

The hosts of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2023 can count on the 20-year long partnership with Infront for its recurring World Cup events. The close partnership will add further opportunities to host a unique winter sport event on all fronts.

FIS counts on the winter sport leader

The contract extension with FIS will see Infront deliver four consecutive World Championships for Alpine and Nordic Skiing, from 2019 to 2025. As well as distributing media rights across all platforms and territories, Infront will be responsible for sponsorship and hospitality packages, and for the entire media production and signal distribution of each event.

Bruno Marty, Winter Sports Executive Director, said: "We are extremely happy to be able to continue our partnership with FIS for the FIS Alpine and Nordic World Ski Championships taking place in 2023 and 2025. They represent two cornerstones of our solid winter sports strategy for the years to come. We are keen on taking a long-term view to further develop the sport and attract more fans of all age segments all over the world. In addition, I congratulate the elected host cities. Our dedicated and experienced team is ready and exited to take up the collaboration and support delivering emotional moments together with them.”

Gian Franco Kasper, FIS president, said: “The FIS World Championships in the Alpine and Nordic Events have demonstrated their status amongst the most important winter sports events. We are confident that the partnership between FIS and Infront to market and broadcast the championships in 2023 and 2025 can develop them further and extend their global footprint.”

The new agreement further solidifies Infront’s relationship with FIS, as well as its position as the number one agency in winter sports and especially in skiing.

Continually at the heart of winter sports

Infront is already operating as the media and sponsorship rights distributor for the 2019 and 2021 FIS Alpine and Nordic World Ski Championships, following an agreement signed in June 2013. In addition, Infront has marketing and/or media rights agreements in place with all but three of the national ski associations (Austria, Switzerland and Romania) that host FIS World Cup events worldwide.

The FIS Alpine and Nordic World Ski Championships are two of very few flagship events on the winter sports events calendar, featuring 21 competitions in Cross-Country, Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined in the Nordic Championships and 11 competitions at the Alpine Skiing Championships.

About Infront

Infront is a leading sports marketing company managing a comprehensive portfolio of top properties. Infront covers all aspects of successful sporting events, including the distribution of media rights, sponsorship, media production, event operation and digital solutions. Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Infront has a team of more than 1,000 staff working from over 40 offices across more than 13 countries, delivering 4,100 event days of top class sport around the world every year. In 2015, Infront was integrated into Wanda Sports Group, part of Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group.